The school network reform has been stretched for too long, and clarity in this matter needs to come as soon as possible, because otherwise municipalities are not interested to make decisions. Instead they are waiting to see what happens next, said the President of Latvian Association of Educators and Principal of Sigulda State Gymnasium Rūdolfs Kalvāns in his interview to TV3 programme 900 seconds.
He described the ongoing school reform process with the words “the deeper into the woods you go, the darker it becomes”. Kalvāns also said he is disappointed about the potentially negative effect the other proposed school financing model could have on the biggest schools, as financing for them would go down in proportion to the size of education institutions when compared to the current situation. A significant portion of this drop would be at the expense of the administration.
“This is what worries us, the principals, the most. […] We are very concerned because we can see minuses for the administration – principals and vices,” said LIVA president, reminding that his association fights for strong school management teams, including wages for principals and their vices, because hard-working and motivated school principals ensure appropriate development for their education institutions.
Generally, Kalvāns outlined his and his colleagues’ general lack of confidence and satisfaction with the school network and financing distribution reform’s slow progress, stressing that it needs to be sped up.
LIVA president wants the coalition to resolve their mutual disputes very quickly and finally achieve clarity,
so that the executive power can start working on regulations. In this context it is the most important for LIVA to achieve a unified understanding as to and appropriate workload for teachers – 40 or 36 hours a week – how this time is divided and how much say school principals will have in determining workloads.
When asked how politicians’ slow progress with the reform affects schools, Kalvāns said this does not chance much for medium and large schools, whereas small schools remain largely in the dark – there are all kinds of rumours and concerns. Even parents are concerned because no one is confident about the future.
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School network reform has been stretched for too long, says head of Latvian Association of Educators
